Monday, May 2, 2011

Reminder: Google is Enforcing New Requirements Tomorrow, May 3rd

GoDataFeed has created a new Google Product Search feed template to reflect its upcoming feed requirements- which will go into effect tomorrow, May 3rd and June 6th, as posted in our blog last month.

We've created this new template to allow you to continue using the existing Google feed template, uninterrupted, while setting up the new one. If you haven't, we recommend you add your Unique Product Identifiers and migrate to the new template ASAP.

Google aims to help shoppers make better buying decisions with more accurate product and pricing information. GoDataFeed's new Google Product Search template will ensure you are adhering to Google's new requirements, maximizing all recommended fields and sending the most relevant, optimized feed to one of the Web's most important shopping engines.

If you are submitting your feed to Google Product Search, you will be required to include the following attributes in your feed:

Starting May 3rd (tomorrow)

Unique Product Identifiers- you'll need to include two out of the three unique product identifiers, such as Manufacturer Part Number (MPN), Brand or Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs) in your datafeed (except for apparel or 'one-of-a-kind' items). This means you will now need 2 of the 3 below:

Brand Name (or Manufacturer)

MPNs -- these are usually Alpha Numeric codes assigned by the Manufacturer

GTINs --these are product codes or other values associated with an individual product generally 12 to 14 numerical digits and assigned by the Manufacturer, which include UPC, EAN (in Europe), JAN (in Japan), and ISBN (10 digit codes for books)

Important Note:As stated on Google's Blog: 'Products without unique product identifiers may not be listed in Google Product Search, though the feed may not be disapproved.' So to avoid seeing a drop in traffic, make sure to use ACCURATE Unique IDs, UPCs or MPNs and a Brand name, as opposed to an internal merchant ID or SKU.

Starting June 6th

Tax & Shipping Data- you'll be required to include tax and shipping information. This pricing data can be set through either your Google Merchant Center or item-level through your datafeed. After June 6th, merchants not including accurate tax and shipping information may cause Google to disapprove their feeds.

Short on Time?We can create the updated Google Product Search feed for you!

Simply open a support ticket, approve the one-time $99 feed setup charge, and we will update and optimize your Google Feed. We will add your existing custom filters, categorization and rules to your new Google feed.